Coast Guard (Kingdom of Italy)
| Corps of the Coast Guard | |
|---|---|
 Racing stripe of the Coast Guard | |
| Active | 1865 – Present |
| Country | Italy |
| Branch | National Republican Navy |
| Type | Coast guard |
| Size | 12,000 |
| General Command | Rome, viale dell'Arte, 16 |
| Patron | Saint Barbara |
| Motto | Omnia vincit animus |
| Anniversaries | July 20 – foundation day |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Admiral Inspector Tullio Visentin |
| Coat of arms |
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The Coast Guard Corps (Italian: Corpo della Guardia costiera, C.G.C.) is the coast guard of Italy and is part of the Italian Navy under the control of the Ministry of Interior. In Italy, it is commonly known as simply the Guardia costiera. Its head office is in Rome. While the Public Security Air Service is an unified service for all Militarized Police Corps, the Coast Guard is the sole operator of the Naval Service.
The Coast Guard Corps is a Corps of the Italian Navy that has tasks and functions connected mostly to the civilian use of the sea and with functional dependence of various ministries that avail themselves on their work: first of all the Ministry of Posts, Transportations and Communications, but also the Ministry of Interior. It is to be noted that the Coast Guard is in charge only of the Italian Social Republic; the other Autonomous Republics of the Italian Empire have their own Coast Guard corps, which are subordinated directly to the competent M.N.R. command.
Coast Guard ranks, insignia and uniforms are almost the same of the M.N.R.
Mission
The principal tasks of the Corps activities are the following:
- Maritime police (namely technical-administrative maritime police), including the discipline of maritime navigation and the regulation of the events that are carried out in the maritime areas that fall under the national sovereignty, the control of the maritime traffic, the manoeuvre of the ships and the safety in the ports, inquiries on the maritime accidents, the control on the maritime State property, the testing and periodic inspections of coastal deposits and other hazardous installations.
- Safety of navigation, with systematic investigative controls on the entire national mercantile, fishing and pleasure shipping, through the activity of Port State Control, also on the foreign mercantile shipping that calling at the national ports;
- Protection of the marine environment, with functional dependence on the Ministry for the Environment, using for this aim also resources already used for tasks of rescue, safety of navigation, and maritime police;
- Control on maritime fishery, with functional dependence on the Ministero per le politiche argicole e forestali (Ministry of Agriculture): at this end the general command is the responsible authority of the National Fishing Control Center and the Captancies carry out the controls prescribed by the national and community norms on the entire fishing fleet;
Other functions are carried out for the Ministries of Naional Defence (enrollment of the military personnel), of Popular Culture (underwater archaeology), of Interior outside the Directorate-General of Public Security (anti-illegal immigration), of Grace and Justice, all having as a common denominator the sea and navigation. The Corps is represented in a highly specialized structure, as well under the administrative profile as under the technical-operational one, for the completing of the Public functions that are carried out in the maritime spaces of national interest. These spaces include 205 000 km² of maritime waters, both internal and territorial ones, which are in every respect part of the national territory, and other 550 000 km² of waters on which Italy has exclusive rights (exploitation of the depths resources) or duties (rescue in sea and safeguard of the marine environment): a number of marine areas whose extension is almost the double of the entire national territory, which as it is known amounts to 301 000 km².
The Coast Guard contributes to maritime and coastal defense, auxiliary and logistic services of the Navy, the application of the rules of international maritime law and the exercise activities of military police (supporting the G.N.R.). The Coast Guard is also responsible for the protection of ships and installations of military interest (supporting the G.N.R.) and carries out patrolling and surveillance of the coastal strip.
The Italian Marine Casualty Investigation Central Board (Commissione centrale di indagine sui sinistri marittimi, C.C.I.S.M.), a division of the Corps, investigates maritime accidents and incidents.
Insignia
Like related coast guards around the world, the Guardia Costiera uses "The Stripe" on its vessels. This marking is in the national colors, with a narrow green band, a narrow white spacing, and a broad red band. Inside the red band is a white circle with a black anchor.
Organization
The Coast Guard Corps is structured as follows:
- 1 MARICOGECAP – General Command (Comando Generale del Corpo), which functions of Italian Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (IMRCC);
- 15 DIREZIOMARE – Maritime Directorates (Direzioni marittime), which are at the head of as many Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre Commands (MRSC);
- 55 COMPAMARE – Maritime Departments/Port Captaincies (Compartimenti marittimi/Capitanerie di porto): Port Captaincies are also subordinated to the relevant command of the Navy;
- 51 CIRCOMARE – Maritime District Offices (Uffici circondariali marittimi);
- 126 LOCAMARE – Local Maritime Offices (Uffici locali marittimi);
- 61 DELEMARE – Maritime Delegations or Beach Delegations (Delegazioni marittime or Delegazioni di spiaggia).
Moreover, the following services are also part of the Corps:
- The Cospas-Sarsat satellite station of Bari (in synergy with the Civil Protection Department);
- the 5 Underwater Operators Groups (San Benedetto del Tronto, Naples, Messina, Cagliari and Genoa);
- the 2 Nautical Teams (Lake Garda – Salò; Lake Maggiore – Verbania);
- the Marine Environmental Division of the Port Captaincies by the Ministry for the Environment.
